LOS ANGELES — Ten minutes before tipoff Thursday night in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, a father and son weren’t walking toward Staples Center as much as they were floating. Suddenly, they stopped. Dad pulled out a camera and had a stranger snap a picture of himself and his boy — wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey and a smile — in front of the looming 17-foot statue of Earvin Johnson.
“Magic is the Lakers,” said the father, Walter Burnham, who lives near Pasadena. “And there’s such a Lakers tradition. Overcoming the Boston Celtics, that’s really Magic Johnson’s legacy. So tonight, it could become Kobe’s legacy. That’s why we’re here.
I was telling my son in the car — this could be the most significant sporting event you go to in your entire life. And he’s only 10.”
Game 7. Lakers-Celtics. This one game would pave the fork-in-the-road for a legend’s legacy. Kobe Bean Bryant now has five NBA titles, tying Magic, as the Lakers defeated Boston, 83-79, winning their second consecutive NBA title Thursday.
A Los Angeles loss, not only would Kobe be stuck on four titles, but he would have lost two of the past three Finals to those hated Celtics, the team that Johnson defeated twice in the Finals.
A win, and not only does Kobe now have as many rings as the greatest Laker ever, but he’s one ring away from tying the greatest player ever, a fellow named Michael Jordan.
No, Kobe didn’t have one of those Kobe nights, in which the stats jump off the morning paper. But he got the job done, yes sir. He scored a team-high 23 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Also – 15 rebounds. And with 25.7 seconds left, and Los Angeles up 79-76, Bryant bulldozed into the lane, drawing a foul and calming hitting two free throws.
The Lakers, to be fair, needed two free throws with 11.7 left from reserve Sasha Vujacic, who gave his squad 83-79 lead, putting the title on ice and adding an “I” to coach Phil Jackson’s baseball hat, which already has an “X” on it from last year’s 10th title.
There had only been 16 NBA Finals that reached a seventh game, most recently in 2005, when San Antonio defeated Chauncey Billups and the Pistons. This one looked like a bad college game for a while. After three quarters, Boston led, 57-53. But there were many timely 3s by both teams in the fourth, and Lakers big man Pau Gasol played the game of his life, scoring 19 points with 18 rebounds, including nine offensive, as he pau-ered himself to the basket with unwavering confidence all night. Holy moly, he was the difference. Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
